The Results!

     It was a night of anticipation, a year in the making. The 82nd Annual Academy Awards were last night, March 7, 2010, the night when moviegoers and moviemakers alike sit down to watch the best of the best win the trophies: the Oscars! With ten best picture nominations and a female and an African American in the running for best director, tonight was a night of firsts. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted the event, their opening number being a bash of all the nominees in the highest categories, but did little else the rest of the night.
     It was a three and a half hour tribute to films and the people that make them, a length that was more than unnecessary, being filled for the most part by clips of the nominated best picture films. Unlike most years, this year had only two musical numbers, one being the opening song, sung by Neil Patrick Harris, and the other being a dance set to the nominated best original scores. Overall, the show turned out to be a bit bland.
     An attempt to spruce it up was a tribute to the late John Hughes, and a second tribute the remaining deceased film-makers and actors (a blatant pass over Ms. Fawcett, with a tribute to Michael Jackson). There was also a tribute to the Horror genre... a collage of clips from movies, presented by Twilight's Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. ("even an unexplained homage to the horror film, a genre that is very much alive." -Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times).
     The awards saw some surprises, such as The Hurt Locker's numerous wins, and some non-sruprises, including the win for best supporting actor and actress. The oddest part of the night, however, was the ending. Due to the lengthiness of the show, and the fact that the best picture award is always given at the end of the night, Tom Hanks walked on stage, opened the envelope and read the winner. There was no, "and here are the nominees for..." It was a rushed ending to allow the producers and director a chance to give their thanks, and no time for Martin and Baldwin to wrap up the evening.
     The complete list of wins by movie is as follows:

•The Hurt Locker:
-Best Picture
-Best Director
-Best Sound Mixing
-Best Sound Editing
-Best Original Screenplay
-Best Editing

•Avatar:
-Best Cinematography
-Best Art Direction
-Best Visual Effects

•Crazy Heart
-Best Lead Actor: Jeff Bridges
-Best Original Song: "The Weary Kind" by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett









•UP
-Best Animated Feature
-Best Original Score

•Precious Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
-Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique
-Best Adapted Screenplay

•The Blind Side
-Best Lead Actress: Sandra Bullock

•Inglorious Basterds
-Best Supporting Actor:  Christoph Waltz










•The Young Victoria
-Best Costume Design

•Star Trek
-Best Makeup










•El secreto de sus ojos
-Best Foreign Language Film









•The Cove
-Best Documentary Feature








•Music by Prudence
-Best Documentary Short

•Logorama
-Best Animated Short

•The New Tenants
-Best Live Short


"The Hurt Locker" Wins Big at Oscars by Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes

The Drama of How The Race Is Won by Melena Ryzik

Supersizing The Show (Austerity Is So 2009) by Alessandra Stanley

The Men Who Stare at Goats

The trailer is funny, absurd, ridiculous, and supposedly true. The movie is very similar, but to the detriment of its longevity, it seems to stop there. It is certainly very relevant to consider the occasions when the military machine thrusts headlong, with taxpayer money in hand, into some new and expensive undertaking aimed at dominating world powers. This arrives at hyperbolic dimensions in the creation of Jedi warriors whose superior psychic abilities allow them to run through walls, disappear, and kill goats on sight. But after the consistent laughs and compounding absurdity we are left with little but questions about what and why. Not simply why these military acts were ever allowed or encouraged but what we are supposed to take away from their reenactments.

We cannot fully render their existence social commentary on the frivolity of war given the sparse placement of actual combat. We could start to ponder the notions of people supposedly out of place that find their calling where they least expect it. And we could certainly address, as mentioned before, the attempts at superiority by any means necessary on the part of our countries military. Yet even with these possibilities in hand the film feels empty on the larger scale. We get no message, we take it in stride, we laugh at the exaggeration but receive no warning. Certainly we could be left with the intent that any money spent on war is wasted, or any plan based psychically is ludicrous.

I will, however, commend the film for its subtle jab at current film posters by giving equal billing to both main actors and namesake goat. And of course, if you have not read the other article previously published, do so now. It has been out intent to respond to the same films as a combined post but as of yet such desires have failed to find fruition.